Photo: Alamy
Federal prosecutors in New York City on Thursday charged a dual Iranian-Iraqi national with eight terrorism-related counts, alleging he coordinated attacks across Europe and plotted strikes inside the United States, including against a synagogue in New York City.
According to the indictment filed in the Southern District of New York, 32-year-old Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi allegedly served as a senior operative connected to Kataib Hezbollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, both designated by the U.S. government as foreign terrorist organizations.
“As alleged in this indictment, Al-Saadi has been directly involved in terrorist operations and military decisions to attack U.S. and Israeli interests across the world and conspired with others to plan deadly attacks on American soil,” said Acting Attorney General @DAGToddBlanche.
“Now that he has been removed from his perch as an alleged commander of Kata’ib Hizballah with close ties to the Iranian regime and its proxies around the world, we look forward to vigorously prosecuting him under American law in an American courtroom,” he added.
Prosecutors charged Al-Saadi with offenses including conspiring to provide material support to terrorist organizations, financing terrorism, and attempted acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries. Two of the charges carry potential life sentences.
Authorities said Al-Saadi was detained abroad on May 1 and transferred to FBI custody on May 14.
The indictment alleges that since at least 2017, Al-Saadi worked alongside senior leaders of Kataib Hezbollah and the IRGC while helping coordinate retaliatory attacks against American, Israeli, and Jewish targets following U.S. military strikes that killed senior militant figures.
Federal prosecutors claim Al-Saadi helped organize approximately 18 attacks in Europe through a front organization identified as Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya, which investigators described as a shell entity linked to Kataib Hezbollah.
Among the attacks cited in court documents were a drone strike targeting the Israeli Embassy in London and a synagogue attack in London on April 18. Prosecutors allege evidence recovered from Al-Saadi’s phone showed him participating in a FaceTime call during the synagogue incident while another individual instructed the attacker to ignite an incendiary device.
The indictment also references messages allegedly sent by Al-Saadi discussing additional planned shootings and attacks.
